Market Update - April 9th

Lambs that learn to walk in snow
When their bleating clouds the air

Meet a vast unwelcome, know

Nothing but a sunless glare.

Newly stumbling to and fro

All they find, outside the fold,

Is a wretched width of cold.

As they wait beside the ewe,

Her fleeces wetly caked, there lies

Hidden round them, waiting too,

Earth's immeasureable surprise.

They could not grasp it if they knew,

What so soon will wake and grow

Utterly unlike the snow.

Philip Larkin - First Sight

Above I have copied my all-time favorite poem.  I know many of you are very busy and don't have time to read the mini-novels I send before each market, but I hope at least a few of you will take a moment to read First Sight.  After the winter we've just endured, I think it is particularly relevant.

I received an email today from Lynn of Dashing Star Farm asking if she can please park right next to the back door to the gym tomorrow as she has 19 more ewes ready to have their lambs any minute now, and she will very likely need to make a quick get-away tomorrow.  If there ever was a sure sign of spring, lambing time is it!  So although we may yet have some cold weather telling us it isn't so, Spring has finally arrived!  The year's first lambs are already bucking and jumping in the farmyard at Dashing Star Farm.  The hay we bring to the cows by the wagon-load here at Meili Farm is lasting a few days longer, and our pigs are lounging their days away in the sun.  Honeybees are in a frenzy carrying pollen back to the hive for the Spring's first brood.  And farmers everywhere are sowing seeds and watching for themselves the incredible yearly unfolding of Earth's Immeasurable Surprise.

Celebrate Spring with delicious food!  Come to the Amenia Winter-into-Spring Market tomorrow, Saturday, from 10:00 to 2:00.

At tomorrow's market, you will find the following Food & Farm vendors:

- Berkshire Mountain Bakery, Housatonic, MA (breads, croissants, rolls, baguettes, loaves)
- Berkshire Orchids, Lakeville, CT (locally grown orchids)
- Best Creations Bakery, Millbrook, NY (cookies, small cakes, hand pies, tarts)
- Cedar Hill Farm, Amenia, NY (beef, pork)
- Clear Water Aqua Farm, Wassaic, NY (aquaponic salad greens and herbs, assorted veggies)
- Cream Hill Veal, Cornwall, CT (pastured veal)
- Dashing Star Farm, Millerton, NY (lamb, eggs, baked goods, wool, roving, sheepskins)
- EB's Golden Harvest (honey, herbal tinctures, candles, various honey & beeswax products)
- Glenn Golovin, Amenia, NY (a wide array of cheeses from the local area - goat-, sheep- and cow-milk varieties represented)
- Krazy for Kazu's, Falls Village, CT (Japanese marinades, dressings & sauces, also prepared Japanese foods)
- Marilyn's Food Co., Pine Plains, NY (pickles - many varieties, sauces, marinara sauce, jams, compotes, relish)
- Meili Farm, Amenia, NY (beef, pork, eggs - CHORIZO IS BACK IN STOCK!)
- Moonbeam Farm, Wingdale, NY (jams, chutneys, baked goods, sauces, handpainted woodenware)
- Perry Hill Farm, Amenia, NY (handmade herbal-based soaps, creams, tinctures, lotions, also farm photo cards - NEW PRODUCTS: Easter egg soaps and household cleaners!!)
- WholeyOats Granola, Amenia, NY (formerly Berkshire Mountain Foods, handmade granolas by the bag and bar)

And the following Local Artisans:

- Baskets at Home, Millbrook, NY (Shaker-style baskets, felted bowls and garlands)
- CrippenWorks, Millerton, NY (hand-sewn knitting needle & crochet cases, notions bags, totes, diaper cases
- David Kaufmann, Millbrook, NY (handmade pottery)
- Donna Durbridge, Amenia, NY (hand-sewn pillows and handbags made with exquisite fabrics and leathers)


We look forward to seeing you tomorrow from 10:00 to 2:00 in the gymnasium of the Amenia Town Hall (former Amenia Elementary School) on Route 22.  Be sure to pass this email along to a friend - we all thank you for your help in spreading the word!  And if it is lamb you're after (or wool, or pillows) and you miss Lynn at the market, please contact her directly at 518-789-4576 or dashingstarfarm@gmail.com.